Although the district's Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+13 suggests a fairly safe Democratic district, it is actually split between heavily Democratic portions of eastern Los Angeles County, centered around Long Beach, and Republican-leaning portions of western Orange County. However, the Los Angeles County portion has more than double the population of the Orange County portion (Long Beach alone accounts for half the population), pushing the district into the Democratic column.

After being reassigned to this district, the western Orange County cities explored a lawsuit to challenge being merged into a district which is dominated by a much larger city in a different county, however nothing came of it.

California's 47th congressional district was the scene of a congressional election (won by a deceased Democratic challenger), and later a congressional special election (won by the Republican incumbent), featured in several episodes of the political drama The West Wing. However, in that context, several Orange County place names were referenced that are not within the current boundaries of the district, such as the city of Newport Beach. Many of these places are currently located in the 46th and 48th districts.